MAYOR BLOOMBERG ENCOURAGES NEW YORKERS TO TAKE PART IN MAKE MUSIC NEW YORK FESTIVAL THIS SUNDAY

More than 900 Free Concerts in Five Boroughs this Sunday, June 21

New this Year: “Mass Appeal” Unleashes the Power of
Massed Single Instruments all over NYC

Mayor Michael R.
Bloomberg today encouraged New Yorkers to take part in the third annual Make
Music New York, which will feature more than 900
free concerts in public spaces throughout the five boroughs on the first day of
summer, Sunday, June 21. From 11 AM through 10 PM, musicians will perform for
free on streets, sidewalks, stoops, plazas, parks and gardens across
the five boroughs. Musical styles will range from hip
hop to opera, and from Latin jazz to punk rock.

“Make Music New York is a great example of why New York is one of the
world’s cultural capitals,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “Artistic talent – and
those who appreciate it –
can be found in every neighborhood in all five boroughs. Make Music New
York gives all of our residents and visitors a chance to experience the City’s
diverse musical riches in their own backyards – or to explore the sights and
sounds of other neighborhoods.”

“With more than 900 concerts in every genre, Make Music
New York serves a free banquet of musical riches to neighborhoods throughout the
City,” said Aaron Friedman, founder and President of Make Music New
York. “It never could have happened without the enthusiastic support of
Mayor Mike Bloomberg and Cultural Affairs Commissioner Kate D. Levin and the
dedication of their staffs, along with the numerous City agencies who helped
make the festival a reality. Most of all, we’d like to thank the nearly
4,000 musicians – marquee names and amateurs alike – who will bring their
talents to the City’s streets, parks, and plazas this Sunday, rain or
shine!”

This year, MMNY's
new “Mass Appeal” program gives
New Yorkers without groups of their own a chance to take part in the
music-making, by bringing together hundreds of musicians to play pieces written
for single types of instruments. Some twenty ensembles have formed, with massed
groups of the following instruments:

•
Accordions

• Acoustic
guitars

•
Bagpipes

•
Cellos

• Circuit
benders

•
Clarinets

•
Flutes

• French
horns

•
Glockenspiels

•
Harmonicas

•
Megaphones

•
Pianos

• Samba
drummers

•
Saxophones

• Sing-alongs
(songs of Umm Kulthum)

•
Trombones

•
Ukuleles

•
Veenas

•
Violins

•
Waterphones

After performing
throughout the City, Mass Appeal groups will meet for an evening jam session at
the Rumsey Playfield in Central Park, which is
open to the public.Conducted by
composer David Amram, musicians and audiences form an enormous ensemble to
harmoniously improvise on a Musical Handshake – a two-phrase, call-and-response
musical greeting – chosen in a competition sponsored by MMNY. This year’s
handshake was written by singer and harpist Elissa Weiss, who based the motif on a
birdsong she heard last summer.

Other event
highlights include:

•In tribute to the late Ghanaian drummer Kofi Ghanaba,
legendary jazz pianist Randy Weston
will perform as part of a day-long block party presented by the Jazz
Gallery. The concert takes place at the western end of Dominick St. (Varick and Hudson), 2 –
7pm.

•For the second year, Governors Island will be “Punk Island,” with thirteen stages of
music and no volume restrictions! Listeners will be able to reach the island via
ferry, leaving from the Battery Maritime Building (adjacent to the Staten Island
Ferry terminal). Bands include Reagan
Youth, Blanks 77, Electric Frankenstein, and over 70
others. 11am – 5pm.

•Central Park SummerStage
will join the global Francophone community in
celebrating chanson française (French song) with a line-up representing the
diversity of French contemporary music: Yannick Noah, Coralie Clément, and
Mayra Andrade. Presented in
association with the Cultural Services of the French Embassy. 3 -
7pm.

•As part of Mass Appeal, 80 trombones, organ, and sopranino
saxophones will take over the ramps of the Guggenheim Museum for the NY premiere
of spatial composer Henry
Brant's Orbits, co-presented by Works & Process at the Guggenheim.
Audiences gather in the rotunda below, with conductor Neely Bruce and a large
contingent of the trombone community above. 7:30pm and
8:30pm.

•Arturo O’Farrill’s Afro-Latin Jazz
Orchestra will perform outside its home venue of Symphony Space, at a Latin jazz block
party on W. 95th
St and Broadway. 12 -
5pm.

•MMNY expands into the Bronx, with indie rock bands on stage
at Orchard Beach (presented by Bronx Underground), jazz at the Bronx Museum of
Art (one of three Jazzmobile concerts for MMNY), and hip-hop
throughout.

• Nivedita ShivRaj leads six players on the veena, an
ancient multi-stringed instrument from South India, hosted by Flushing Town Hall at 2
pm.

These
are only a few of the hundreds of concerts taking place on June 21 in all five
boroughs, from Orchard Beach in the Bronx to the south shore of Staten Island.MMNY takes place simultaneously with
similar festivities in more than 300 cities around the world. For complete
program information, visit nyc.gov, or call 311.